If you’re in the market for a BMW HP4 Race – the carbon fiber clad superbike from Bavaria – the $78,000 price tag might not be all that you’re spending on, as BMW Motorrad has a few items in the fine print that you might want to be aware of – the first being the engine life. According to documents sent to BMW Motorrad dealers in the United States, the 212hp inline-four engine for the BMW HP4 Race comes with an expiration point of 5,000km (roughly 3,100 miles), at which point the entire engine will have to be replaced. There is no word yet what a new HP4 Race engine from BMW Motorrad will cost, but we do know that it will come from the factory with performance certification and already broken-in for immediate use.

If you are in the market for a track-only race car, might we suggest the Griip G1. Though featuring double the wheels that we’re used to, this carbon fiber clad Formula 1000 cart is powered by a very familiar power plant: the Aprilia RSV4 superbike’s V4 engine. The RSV4 engine on the Griip G1 remains fairly stock, though it uses a drive shaft, instead of a chain drive, as it would on a motorcycles. As such, it makes roughly 201hp in this form, though the real value of the Griip G1 is the weight of the vehicle, which tips the scales at 860 lbs wet and fully fueled. Designed in Israel, and built in Italy, the Griip G1 will set you back a cool €52,900 if you are interested in owning one. To frame the figure on that price tag, the cost of a G1 is about the cost of three Aprilia RSV4 RR superbikes, over in Europe.

Italian media is reporting an invitation to a Ducati event at the Misano circuit, the Thursday before the MotoGP race weekend held on the Adriatic Coast. The event has surely something to do with Ducati’s new V4 superbike, with Ducati claiming it will be “the sound of a new era” for the Italian manufacturer. That sound surely will be of the new V4 powerplant, which will not only replace the company’s iconic v-twin superbike lineup, but also power future large-displacement sport bikes from Ducati – something Claudio Domenicali told A&R at the Ducati 1299 Panigale R Final Edition launch. What we will see at Misano is up for speculation, however. A strong guess would be that Ducati only unveils its 90° V4 engine, teasing for us the interesting technical bits that Domenicali hinted at during the Laguna Seca WorldSBK weekend.

Though it is known better for its exploits on race tracks, many two-wheeled enthusiasts should know that Ducati’s history extends well into the sand dunes of the Dakar Rally. Nestled in the Ducati Museum in Borgo Panigale, there is proof of Ducati’s racing history in the Dakar Rally. And while the bike says “Cagiva” on the outside, it was an air-cooled Ducati engine that powered Edi Orioli and his Elefant to two Dakar Rally wins. That machine was painted in one of the most iconic paint schemes ever to grace a racing motorcycle: the Lucky Strike cigarette company’s red, white, black, and gold livery. So, to pay homage to Ducati’s off-road racing history, the folks at the MotoCorsa Ducati dealership have taken the Ducati Multistrada 1200 Enduro and linked it to its racing pedigree, creating a unique motorcycle in the process.

Before the machine officially debuted in China, we got our first taste of the carbon-clad BMW HP4 Race at the 2016 EICMA Show in Milan. At that time, all we knew about this track-only motorcycle was that it would be built in limited quantities, and thus would not be cheap. In China, we learned that pricing across “the pond” had been set at £68,000 / €80,000 for the UK and EU markets, respectively. And now, we finally get word regarding how much the BMW HP4 Race will cost American buyers, as BMW Motorrad USA has set an asking price of $78,000. Only 750 units will be made worldwide, so it’s hard to say how many will even make the trip to the United States, but for that price tag you get quite the machine.

At eight years old, the BMW S1000RR has aged remarkably well, due in part to a healthy update for the 2015 model year. But, when compared to the cutting edge bikes in the market right now, the venerable “RR” does seem to be lacking some modern touches, so it shouldn’t surprise us to see the German brand updating its machine for the 2018 model year. Caught testing by the busy lenses at Motorrad Magazine, the 2018 BMW S1000RR appears to be an all-new motorcycle, with several noticeable changes to the chassis, and rumored changes to its four-cylinder engine.

I’m a sucker for a good concept sketch, and these Ducati motorcycle renders by Jakusa Design have been fueling my imagination lately, so I thought it would be worth sharing them on the site. These concepts are of particular note because of how Ducati uses its v-twin engine designs to power multiple motorcycles, across multiple riding segments, which adds to Ducati’s reputation as a v-twin brand, but more importantly helps the Italian manufacturer control costs. This is something that is about to get more interesting though as Ducati introduces its V4 engine, which as Ducati CEO Claudio Domenicali told us, will also power multiple bikes as a platform engine.

What started out as a worldwide service campaign for the water-cooled BMW R1200GS models is turning into a massive global recall for the German motorcycle manufacturer, as now the United States has joined the United Kingdom in issuing a recall on the popular ADV machine. Accordingly, BMW Motorrad USA has issued a “stop sale” to BMW dealers, as documents for a recall with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are being readied for release. The recall sees BMW Motorrad dealers inspecting the fixed fork tube on R1200GS models produced between November 2013 and June 2017. If the inspected motorcycle has an excessively large gap between the fork pipe and the seal plug, then the fork cannot be repaired by the dealer, and must be replaced.

A bigger burlier version of the Ducati Multistrada 1200 is set to come to a dealership near you in 2018, as documents filed with the California Air Resources Board (CARB) show a new Ducati Multistrada 1260 model is in the works. Spotted by the eagle-eyes at Motorcycle.com, the 2018 Ducati Multistrada 1260 is surely the Italian company’s popular adventure-tourer, now with the XDiavel’s potent 1,262cc engine inside its chassis. For those who haven’t swung a leg over the machine it resides within, the Ducati XDiavel engine is the cream of the Testastretta, making a potent 156hp in its power cruiser application, with Ducati variable valve technology installed. Judging from the the CARB documents, this potent motor could be set to make even more power in its ADV form, however.